Archive for gummies

I know I tend to stick to chocolate reviews, simply because I prefer eating chocolate, but every now and then there is other candy I’d like to show you: I got a small snack sized bag with those tiny dots from a candy swap and I was really keen on them from the day I got them. Though, it took me some time to get to try them, mainly as I did not make too good experiences with Rowntree’s products (not because the products I tried were bad-tasting, just because I almost lost my teeth while trying to chew them xD).

These jellies are supposed to be smooth and come with a sugar coating. Their size is about thumbnail size, so they are smaller than the usual jelly gums I know. You can actually see that there aren’t any artificial colors used in their production, the colors are pretty decent and I find them really nice.

They come in five different flavors.

My first impression of the yellow lemon version is: sweet. No sourness, no fruit, simply sweet. After the sugar coating wears off (which takes some time!), I sense a slightly citrus-like flavor, but it does not get sour like citrus is supposed to be.

Orange is even sweeter, but really fruity. I like the orange flavor a lot in here, something I usually don’t do, as I’m not a huge fan of orange flavored jelly. But the fruit is totally natural and tasty!

Strawberry is surprising. Most tots in there are strawberry flavored and I guess I know why: They are fruity, turn sour soon after you made your way through the sugary coating, juicy and not too artificial. Nice!

The green ones are lime and yes, they are a little sourer than the lemon ones. Though, I find them the most artificial in here, but I think lime is in general rarely a well done flavor. I like lime, but most of the time I’m spoiled by lime-flavored jellies.

The last ones I try are the blackcurrant ones. I always try to let them be the last version, as I really love blackcurrant and I am better at remaining objective without trying them first. Unfortunately, there are only four blackcurrant tots in the entire bag (while strawberry is available 12 times or so), but that probably is random. But to be honest – they are not as good as I hoped them to be. The strawberry tots are way better and fruitier and somehow I am glad there are only four in the entire bag, as they are (except for the lime version) my least favorite…

I was kind of confused about the texture. Basically they are smooth, but more solid than soft foam and some other sugar-coated jelly. Yet, there were a few among them, which differed from the rest, coming with a really soft texture. I was a little confused in the beginning, but that’s nothing I’d worry about too much, they are nice!

What I also like about them is that they are suitable for vegetarians. This is cool because they are smooth, which is not always the case with vegetarian-friendly jelly (except for the real soft-jelly made with pectin).

So, all in all they are pretty decent jellies. I enjoyed eating them and if I was out for a sweet sugar coated jelly treat with a fruity taste, I’d take them into consideration.

This is a British version of Haribo jellies. Again, they are sugarcoated and again, there is way too much sugar on them. The jellies should be monster-shaped, but all you can see is a piece of gummy covered with sugar. The faces underneath it are totally unrecognizable. Anyway, they look better than the tangfastics mix I tried some time ago, even though all I see is some missproduced jelly. Though the smell is artificial, it is better as the last British jelly I tried as well. Good start.

The jellies come in three different colors and flavors: a yellow lemon one, apple green and cherry red. There is an additional warning on the back saying that “nasty” Haribo had put extra sour into the mix. Well, they use a double positive here, does that mean anything?

I start with the yellow one. It has the lightest and weakest color. The coating is pretty sour, but not too sour that it makes you shiver. The inner life taste slightly like lemon, but the dominant taste is just sourness.

The green one isn’t as sour as the yellow one in the beginning, but the sourness develops while chewing it. Its apple flavor is most intensive during the first bites, but wears off soon. Nice.

Finally cherry. This is the least sour jelly and the sour taste beats the cherry aroma which you can only get a glimpse of. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but the tiny glimpse of cherry I get is too artificial, just like the water ice flavorings. Nah, even though I usually like berry flavored jellies, this one doesn’t get to me at all!

The texture of them is really chewy. They don’t stick to your tooth too easily, better than several other Haribo jellies.

These gummies are the siblings of the original Katjey yoghurt gums, but with tropical flavors. The main difference to their older siblings is: They always come in a two-flavor combination. For the review, I tried each flavor on its own.

Passionfruit is the lightest pink in there. It is fruity and juicy, and rather sweet. Maybe a little too sweet for a passionfruit. I still enjoy it.

Kiwi is awesome. It is colored light green and tastes like a sweet, mellow kiwi fruit. Even sweeter than the passion fruit, but it goes well with the kiwi flavor.

Yellow is mango, instead of the expected pineapple. You can clearly taste the mango, but I’d like it a little fresher and a little sourer.

I’ve never seen a jelly flavored like a prickly pear before. The taste is rather tropical and you cannot really sense the specific fruit, but it is good anyway, the best one so far.

The mid pink one is papaya. Again, it tastes like a mix of tropical fruit. Not bad, though.

The last one is orange and guess what, it is orange-flavored. Well, it tastes rather like a lemonade drink and reminds me of my childhood. So, a little less added sugar would be great.

All in all, I’ve tried better but also worse jelly before.Suitable for vegetarians, I’d definitely recommend those jellies to them! Yet, the original yoghurt gums are unbeatable!

When I was younger I simply hated soft jelly gummies. Why? Just because of the texture. Now I enjoy them every now and them, especially due to the texture. Additionally, soft jelly is fruitier than the usual jelly most of the time. And fruit is the best part of jellies, at least for me. The fruiter, the better.

I’ve been aware of these Katjes version for a long time now, but it wasn’t until after I got some soft jellies for Easter that I decided to give them a try. As usual, the jelly is entirely wrapped; they come in six different flavors. Their size is bigger than the usual jelly, but not too large. Nice to take three or even four small bites. Of course, you can get them down immediately, but personally I think you kill the taste then.

Let’s start with the light red/magenta colored one is supposed to be cherry. It is shaped round and you can only smell the sugar. The cherry flavor is really intensive as soon as the total sweetness wears off. It is a little artificial, but the after taste is not as worse as usually with cherry flavored jellies.

The colorless pineapple shaped and colored jelly tastes a little moldy. The pineapple is not as intensive as the cherry flavor, but I would prefer a fresher taste. It is my least favorite; I just prefer fresh pineapple as a fruit.

Orange is formed as a slice of orange and you can definitely sense the aroma of oranges from the outside, even if it is a weak scent. This one is way too sweet and the flavor is overshadowed by the sweetness of the sugar.

The citrus version is also shaped like a slice of citrus and comes with a yellow color. As expected, this is the sourest jelly so far and the sweetness is really in the back. I really like its freshness and the slightly sour aftertaste.

The green apple is really fresh, not too sweet and not too sour as well. It tastes like a juicy red apple and is really good!

I hoped the dark blackcurrant one would be my personal favorite would be my favorite, but it is not, the citrus one is way better. This one is really fruity and has the most intensive taste of actual fruit. Though, it lacks a kick of freshness and I miss a sour edge as well.

All in all, yes, they are sweet, but with sugarcoated soft jelly gums this is usually what you expect to taste. I liked them though. Compared to some cheap soft jelly products, they are really delicious and worth trying. Especially fruit-wise.

There is an oriental version as well… unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get hold of them yet… 😦

Katjes was so kind to send me two products to try and review them. One of them were their most famous product: katjes yoghurt gums. 1971 Katjes was the first yoghurt gum producer – and they directly produced it with pectin instead of gelatine. They only thing they claim to have changed is the exchange of artificial flavorings and colorings with natural ones. Nice developement, don’t you think?
When I was younger, I hated them, I really did. Why? I could not stand anything in connection with yoghurt except for youghurt itself. Well, it is not true that I could not stand it, I just did not want to.
Now I basically give everything a chance, and I really did want to try this jelly, especially as they are a really good option for vegetarians!

The texture is similar to soft gummies, just a little “creamier”, and of course there is no sugarcoating. They are soft and easy to chew, but not too boring at the same time. Most of them are shaped like the fruit they taste like, just the cherry one isn’t; and I don’t get why, but that does not matter, does it?

This time I start with the strawberry one, as I usually am a fan of strawberry, and this would make it easier in case I still do not like them. It looks just like a pink little ball with some dots on it to show that this should be the strawberry. It basically smells like yogurt whit just a glimpse of strawberry. Also the taste contains not a lot of strawberry taste, it is rather like neutral yogurt taste mixed up with a lot of sugar. I cannot really fall for this, but the yoghurt gum is better than expected. The yoghurt flavor is really mild, it is just the fruit that I miss.

The scent of the cherry jelly is a little more intensive. The taste is surprisingly really natural and fruity, but the taste is not as good as I expected it to be from the aroma. Still, I am surprised that this flavor is not as artificial as usual cherry-flavored jelly, and I enjoyed the piece.

The orange one has the most intensive aroma. I am quite surprised by the taste, though. It is slightly sour, has a dominant fruit flavor, but orange is not really what it tastes like, it is rather some fruit mixture. The orange comes only as a slight after taste. I don’t know what it really is, but I like it!

The lemon shaped citrus flavored gum seems to be the smallest jelly version and it comes with a slightly sour scent. Its color is like a dark, creamy white. I hoped for a little change to the sweet jellies. And yes, there definitely is a sour by-taste in contrast to the sweetness of the jelly. Though, the general citrus flavor could be a little more intensive.

There were only three pear flavored jellies in the bag. They have an intensive taste and it is really natural as well, but somehow I find the flavor of pear not really blending with the taste of yogurt. They are not bad, but they would not become my favorite as well.

Raspberry is colored somewhere in between the dark pink cherry and the light pink strawberry one. The yogurt-raspberry mixture is really delicious, and I do not just say that because I am in favor of raspberry-flavored things. It is maybe a little too sweet, but the raspberry flavor is natural and fruity, the jelly is juicy and all in all, really tempting!

So, all in all I am positively surprised. Orange and raspberry are the best flavors and strawberry is in case of fruit my least favorite, even though I do not like the combination of pear and yoghurt.
I enjoy eating them, even though I tend to be a little more critical while reviewing them. Of course there are better products on the market, but they are good, especially if you compare them to similar jellies on the market! Oh, there is also a tropical version of them… and I will review them later 😉

I recently got them from the UK and I was totally keen on them. But when I held them in my hands I was kind of disappointed. They contain way too much sugar (the entire bag is full of it!) and they are intensified colored (though the wrapper says that there are no artificial colors in this candy). Of course, they are made for kids, so they need to look colorful. Their smell is really chemical and really repelling to me!

All of them are coated with sugar and really sickly sweet. It takes some time for the real flavor to get to you.

The cola bottles are really chewy and provide a great taste of cola as soon as the sweetness of the sugar layer wears off. I should not compare them to the German version, because the German cola bottles taste like lemon and are less sweet.

The crocodiles which do not really look like crocodiles are more like soft jellies and have foam on the back. At first I wasn’t very pleased with their texture, but I soon got into them. They come in five different colors. The yellow one taste likes lemon and with the sweetness of the sugar comes a sourness which is really enjoyable. I think the orange one should be orange, but the flavor does not really get to me. It is just an exchange of sweet and sourness. Not bad, though. The green ones are kind of strange, as they taste like strawberries. I like the flavor a lot, but it just was a surprise. The red ones taste like raspberry with some sour edge. They’re nice as well. The last ones are dark-red colored and are definitely blackcurrant. Together with the green ones they are the tastiest, but if you like it more sour, then you’d go for the lemon one.

The dummy is colorless and green. The colorless part is like the same-colored haribo gummy bear: pineapple, and the green part, again, is strawberry. The texture is rather like the bottles a little chewier. Unfortunately, I only got one dummy. I was wondering whether there are other colours as well?!

The last ones in the bag are cherries. They are the most solid jellies in the bag and the second sweetest after the cola bottles. The sweetness soon is taken away by the sour cherry taste the jelly has. It is alright, though a little too artificial, which often happens with cherry-flavored gummies.

Do I really need to rate them? I find it difficult this time, as they are really alright and nice, but compared to German Haribo stuff they cannot really keep up… And they need to work on the smell! Pah!

I always like to try vegetarian gummies, as there are not too many really good-tasting options for veggies here in Germany. Pasta Frutta by Haribo is one of them I’d recommend to vegetarians if they like slightly sour gummies. As most Haribo products, no artificial colors are used in this product. Though, the colors of the gummies are really rich and nice. They are coated in sugar and I am glad to not find a pool of sugar inside the bag.

The package contains four different flavors. The yellow ones are of course citrus. Not only their sugar coating is sour, but they are as well. Unfortunately, they taste a bit artificial to me, I don’t really like them. The after-taste is rather like something indefinable. I know from several people that they feel the same about the yellow one, though most of the content is yellow. Perhaps they are the cheapest one to produce.

The green, apple ones are way better. They taste like a really sour green apple (granny smith) and they do not have an after-taste at all, except for a mild sourness.

Last but not least, the red strawberry ones. I guess you’ve already figured that I like red-colored fruit much more than the other flavors and so I save them for the last. The strawberry taste is alright but nothing too astonishing. Further, they are the mildest ones. The sourness is hardly testable.

The texture is something between soft and solid. They are harder than usual gummies (probably because they ‘lack’ gelatin), but softer than comparable gelatin-free products. I really like that about those gummies!

All in all they are okay. A pretty decent product for vegetarians with not too many options.